A Soup Day in Paris

Today is Wednesday, which those of you who have been paying attention know is my market day.  I just needed a few things, and the sky was sooo blue, I thought I would walk to President Wilson Market rather than take the metro two stops, as I usually do.  Then I looked at my iPhone.

Whaaaa?? Really??

I quickly changed my mind and got on that metro after all.

My list was short because I planned to make Dorie Greenspan’s Red Kuri Soup for dinner, which has only four ingredients, one of which is water.  If you are like me, you are now wondering the heck red kuri is.  In France we call it potimarron (well, some of us do- I just point and smile), and it is a gorgeous  squash that is in season here until the end of fall (which I would say is about now, given the morning’s temperature).  I wanted to try this squash whose French name  sounds like pumpkin+chestnut.

Although I love winter squash, I frequently shy away from them because they can be so hard to peel and chop.  I am not known for my knife skills, and have a permanently bent pinkie to prove it.  So I was thrilled to learn that this particular squash doesn’t need to be peeled!  The skin cooks with the insides and is completely edible. Hooray for potimarron!

Are you ready to see what it looks like?  Voila.

Is that about the most beautiful hue you have ever seen?  J’adore.

Although I didn’t have to peel this beauty, I did have to chop it into pieces, and that proved to be a daunting task.  Thank goodness for the internet, who told me to stick it in the microwave for 5 minutes or so until my chef’s knife could penetrate it without danger of self-mutilation.  It seems obvious now, but I don’t know that I would have thought of that on my own.   So after several spins in the microwave, I was able to slice this baby open.

I scooped out the seeds and strings and then easily chopped it into chunks.

Here they are, floating happily in milk and water with some chopped leeks.  They stayed there for a half hour or so, until they were soft and ready for the blender.  Then they turned into this.

I added a big dose of flour de sel and will garnish with toasted hazelnuts and creme fraiche.  I am hoping the other two will like it, but even if they don’t, they will have to admit that it’s beautiful.  And then they can eat bread.

This recipe is from Dorie’s Around My French Table, but I also saw it on the internet when I was looking up “red kuri squash” and here is the link.

Thanks for stopping by Mais Oui Paris, where it’s all Paris, all the time.  Unless it’s not.  You just never know until you get here!